1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to an image processing system and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for performing visual effect rendering on an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Multimedia devices, such as digital cameras, can capture images of various physical objects in a particular scene. Image quality can be affected by various factors, including: aperture size, lighting, color intensities, texture, processing power, memory space, and/or the like. In some cases, it is desirable to post-process an image to enhance image quality and/or achieve a desired expression of the image. Image post-processing techniques can modify some of the factors noted above when adding visual effects to the captured images.
For example, an image can be post-processed to reduce the depth of field in the image (e.g., in order to emphasize the foreground of the image). In another example, an image can be post-processed to add various special effects, such as a particularly defined bokeh, a particular blending of objects in the image, a particular animation effect across several images, and the like. In such post-processing tasks, a user must understand and use imaging processing tools to manually configure and apply various filters to the image in order to achieve the desired effect. This requires some level of expertise in the image processing tools being used, some knowledge of the filters being applied, as well as the capability to properly analyze the scene to apply the filters appropriately so as to achieve the desired effect. Thus, adding various special effects to an image during post-processing, such as various blur effects, can be a manual and disjointed process.